[ADMIN] problems installing postgresql 8.0 on Mac OS 10.3.9

[jbar]

Hello People,

Mac OS 10.3.9
PostgreSQL 8.0

Background: I was reading a book titled Mac OS X Hacks,
which has a brief
section on installing PostgreSQL. It suggested one start by
installing Fink,
which I successfully did. Then I used FinkCommander to
install PostgreSQL
8.0, which seemed to be successful (it reported no
problems).

Unfortunately, I'd forgotten to first create a Postgres user
on my machine (i.e.
admin/host), and when I tried to do that, I was told such a
user (short) name
already existed--although it does not appear in my list of
users.

When I open pgadmin3 (which I also used FinkCommander to
install), it says I
have zero servers.

In Terminal, if I try: createdb mydb

I get the response:

createdb: could not connect to database template1: could not
connect to
server: No such file or directory
Is the server running locally and accepting
connections on Unix domain socket
"/tmp/.s.PGSQL.5432"?

The help file for pgadmin3 says this means the server was
not started, or not
started where createdb expected it. Unfortunately, it merely
says to consult
one's administrator, which in my case is me.

Can anyone please tell me where I can get some info. to
figure out what I need
to do to set up a) my server, b) my Postgres user, c) the
PostgreSQL
configurations?

I have looked on the web and found a number of sources (e.g.
apple) that
show beginners like me what to do to install PostgreSQL, but
they all seem to
work with/from source code, compiled via Terminal. I had
thought I was
making things simpler by using FinkCommander to do the
installation for me,
especially given my lack of experience with Terminal. I
imagine it would be a
mistake to try to install PostgreSQL from source afresh,
just so as to follow the
steps described on the web, in the hope that I might thereby
make a proper
installation.

Basically, my aim is to simply set up PostgreSQL to run, so
that I can then
begin the process of learning how to use it. My database
experience is limited
to FileMaker 6, but I am interested in learning how to use a
true relational
database.

Cheers!

Joe

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Re: [ADMIN] problems installing postgresql 8.0 on Mac OS

[jbar]

Hello People,

My (belated) thanks to John DeSoi & Tom Lane for their
responses to my earlier
query.

I have uninstalled the old postgres 8.0 via FinkCommander,
and downloaded
the 8.2.4 binaries from the sourceforge website that John
suggested. The
installer seemed to run fine, but afterward I find that
there are no postgres
files in my /sw/ directory. It has installed files in
/Applications/ instead, but I
suspect they are just gui front-ends.

At this website 
there are two
links describing how to install postgres on mac os x, but
unfortunately neither
seem to fit my circumstances. Both use source rather than
binaries. Both show
./configure commands that will only work if I first have
postgres installed
either at /usr/local/src/ (which I believe is not a valid
path) or /users/shared/,
but I don't see any way for ./configure to work even if I
pointed it at /
Applications/PostgreSQL\ Folder/.

1. What am I doing wrong?
2. Is this the right forum in which to ask?
3. Are there better sources of information/guides for
directions on how to
install postgres on mac os 10.3.9?
4. Should I also uninstall the postgres I got from
sourceforge, & try again with
source files rather than binaries? That way it at least
might begin to more
closely fit with the installation instructions at
, although I doubt a perfect fit is possible
given the
variations & perhaps dated nature of those documents.

TIA,

Joe

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Re: [ADMIN] problems installing postgresql 8.0 on Mac OS

[jbar]

John DeSoi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

>/sw is just for Fink, so I would expect nothing to go there
unless
you are using Fink.

Ah! Thanks, John.

>Which package did you download from sourceforge? I notice
there are
several variations and some might only have the client
tools. It
looks like you want the "PostgreSQL Unified Installer".

That's the one.

>I downloaded the startup item package. It appears to
install the
server in /Library folder. Here is the startup line:

>su -m postgres -c '/Library/PostgreSQL8/bin/pg_ctl start -D
/Library/
PostgreSQL8/data -l /Library/PostgreSQL8/log/PostgreSQL8.log
-o -i'

Thanks again! You're quite right, I didn't think to look in
/Library, but there it
is! However, when I try that command of yours, I get a
password query, but it
doesn't accept my password. How do I find out the correct
password for
super-user? My account is admin, & I earlier created a
postgres administrator
account (because I was told that a postgres user already
existed, even though
it doesn't show up in the accounts. I tried running your
command but
preceded by sudo instead, but terminal said I had illegal
option -m.

Sorry that my questions are so basic, and thanks for any
further help you may
offer.

Cheers!

Joe

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